GREEN MONSTERS
Table Of Contents:
INTRODUCTION
ARFONS MILL & HARDWARE
GREEN MONSTER VIDEOS
GREEN MONSTERS BY NUMBER
GREEN MONSTERS WITHOUT NUMBERS
GREEN MONSTER ENGINES
GREEN MONSTER ENGINE VIDEOS
GREEN MONSTER CHARACTER
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Evidently, there were 34 (or more) various “Green Monster” vehicles built by Art Arfons and/or family members. Vehicles include Quarter Mile Dragsters, Land Speed Racers, Tractors, and Hydroplanes. The Green Monsters were powered by piston, gas turbine, and steam powered engines as well as JATO (Jet-Assisted Take Off) rocket bottles. Several aircraft engines were utilized and include those made by Allison, Ranger, Jacobs, Franklin, Rolls Royce (Packard built), General Electric, and Westinghouse (and possibly Pratt and Whitney and Continental) and evidently Wright.
As widely reported, the first Green Monster, in 1952, was a three-wheeled dragster powered by an Oldsmobile six cylinder engine and the dragster was painted with left-over green tractor paint. The name was applied on the car's first outing by the track announcer, Ed Piasczik (Paskey), who laughingly said:
"Okay folks here it comes; The Green Monster"
The photos below show the Arfons Mill & Hardware store with some Green Monsters out front:
Above from left to right: #11, #7, #5
Above from left to right: #6, #5
Green Monster 5 (after restoration):
Green Monster 6 (at 1:43, 2:39, 3:34 into video, no sound):
Green Monster 11:
Green Monster 19:
Green Monster 27:
Green Monster ? (SUPER Cyclops):
Arfons Family Interview with Green Monster Starfire, Tractors, and QuadRunner:
It has been difficult to locate photos of all the Green Monsters and differentiate each one by number. Errors in magazines have also been discovered in regard to numbers associated with specific Green Monsters. The information provided below is an effort to properly identify each Green Monster by number and to correct errors discovered.
Green Monster #0
The photo below shows Green Monster 0 as acquired from the June 1957 issue of Motor Guide magazine:
The June 1957 issue of Motor Guide magazine included the article below:
Green Monster #1
Green Monster 1 was a three-wheeled dragster powered by an Oldsmobile six cylinder engine in 1952.
The June 1990 issue of American Rodder magazine reported that the engine was a 1940 Oldsmobile flathead six and the dragster was painted with John Deere green paint as stocked in the Arfons Mill & Hardware store.
CAUTION: The July 1956 issue of Rod Builder & Customizer magazine erroneously identified Green Monster 2 as Green Monster 1 as documented in Episode 8 of The Green History Detectives.
The photo below shows Green Monster 1 as acquired from the June 1957 issue of Motor Guide magazine (above):
A 1940 Oldsmobile flathead six engine is shown below:
Green Monster #2
Green Monster 2 was a six-wheeled dragster powered by an Allison V12 aircraft engine in 1954.
The November 1954 issue of Hot Rod magazine included the article below:
Green Monster #3
The June 1990 issue of American Rodder magazine included an article given later, for #11, which reported that:
"Green Monster #3 was undertaken to give brother Dale Arfons, Art's senior by eight years, a chance. It was to be powered by a Jacobs five-cylinder radial engine, but as it turned out, Dale was never really bitten by the racing bug and the project died before completion."As confirmed by Aircraft Engine History Society, the Bomber Command Museum of Canada, and others, the Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company never produced a "five-cylinder radial engine" as indicated above. However, Jacobs did produce the seven-cylinder R-755 (company designation L-4) shown on the left below. The vehicle in the upper right has a radial engine but it appears to be a Wright nine-cylinder R-975 as shown in the GREEN MONSTERS WITHOUT NUMBERS section. That vehicle is very similar to Green Monster #2 in the lower right:
Green Monster #4
The May 1955 issue of Rod & Custom magazine included the article below:
Green Monster #5
The September 1955 issue of Rod & Custom magazine included the article below:
The dragster initially had an air-cooled Ranger V12 aircraft engine mounted upside down and backwards (left photo) and later had a water-cooled Allison V12 aircraft engine (right):
Green Monster #6
The March 1957 issue of Rodding & Restyling magazine included the article below:
Green Monster #7
Also known as "Boloney Slicer".
Green Monster #8
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #9
The July 1956 issue of Rod Builder & Customizer magazine, as given at Episode 8 of The Green History Detectives, reported that:
"The new Monster #9 is powered by two helicopter engines."
and:
"TWO FRANKLIN 6-cylinder helicopter engines will power our newest dragster - the Green Monster #9."
and:
"We also intend making #9 a three wheeled vehicle. If, on testing this spring, we find that a single front wheel is not enough to hold it steady we will then change the car to a four-wheeler."The March 1957 issue of Rodding & Restyling magazine included the article above, for #6, reported that:
"The latest Monster, No. 9, promises to be one of the most outstanding of all. It is powered by two Franklin helicopter engines mounted astride the rear axle and generating about 800 horsepower."The June 1957 issue of Motor Guide magazine reported the quote from Art Arfons:
"I hate too admit it, but when we built No. 9, we found it too hot to handle, so we cut it up and then constructed Green Monster No. 10 which is a really hot car."The August 1956 issue of The Dragster included the article below:
Green Monster #10
The June 1957 issue of Motor Guide magazine reported the quote from Art Arfons:
"Green Monster No. 10 was powered with a Ranger aircraft engine and right now we're working on Monster No. 11, which will have a Rolls Royce aircraft powerplant."Green Monster #11
The July 1959 issue of Hot Rod magazine included the article below:
The June 1990 issue of American Rodder magazine included the article below:
Green Monster #12
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #13
Also known as "Cyclops" and also served as a Hydroplane with an attached a pair of 26-foot-long aluminum pontoons as shown in the upper right photo:
Green Monster #14
Also known as "Anteater".
Green Monster #15
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #16
Green Monster #17
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #18
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #19
Green Monster #20
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #21
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #22
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #23
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #24
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #25
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #26
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #27
Green Monster #28
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #29
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #30
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #31
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #32
To Be Determined.
Green Monster #33
Green Monster #34
GREEN MONSTERS WITHOUT NUMBERS
It has been difficult to determine the Green Monster number (1 through 34, or more) associated with some vehicles built by Arfons. The information provided below identifies vehicles built by Arfons for which the Green Monster number is not known.
The vehicle below, which is very similar to Green Monster #2, has what appears to be a Wright nine-cylinder radial R-975 engine shown to the right. The upper right shows the engine (running) with the cooling fan and the lower right shows the engine without a cooling fan:
The vehicle in the photos below has been shown with and referred to as a Green Monster:
The vehicle in the photos below was the first Land Speed Racer built by Arfons:
The vehicle in the photos below is a Land Speed Racer built by Arfons:
The vehicle in the photos below is racing Wingfoot Express 1 as shown in the upper left photo.
The vehicle in the photos below appears to be similar to #16 but is not marked so and has a different paint scheme on the front:
The vehicle in the photos below was known as "The Dud". Notice in the upper left photo that it is racing Cyclops (#13).
The vehicle in the photo below has "SUPER Cyclops" written upon it:
The vehicle in the photos below was known as "Wingfoot Express 1":
The vehicle in the photos below was known as "Wingfoot Express 2":
The vehicle in the photos below was powered by a steam engine and was referred to as Neptune 1:
Craig Arfons' Jett Vette:
Tim Arfons' Green Monster Camaro:
Tim Arfons' Starfire Corvette:
The vehicles in the photos below are other possible Green Monsters by Walt Arfons.
Note that there were evidently two Green Monsters with a pointed nose equipped with gas turbine engines:
The vehicle in the photo below is a Tractor having a single gas turbine engine mounted to the left with forward exhaust:
The vehicle in the photo below is a Tractor having a dual gas turbine engines with rearward exhaust:
The April 1967 issue of Hot Boat magazine reported in the article below that this Hydroplane is Cyclops (#13) with an attached a pair of 26-foot-long aluminum pontoons.
With the pontoons attached, was this vehicle assigned a separate Green Monster number?
Craig Arfons was reported to having say the following during an interview about this Hydroplane:
"We'll probably call it Green Monster in the family tradition".
Some of the various types of engines employed in the various Green Monsters follow:
Oldsmobile 6 Water-Cooled as used in #1:
Allison V12 Water-Cooled as used in #2, #5, #6, #11, and #14:
Wright Radial 9 Air-Cooled as used in what appears to possibly be #3 or #2 temporarily:
Jacobs Radial 5 Air-Cooled (Never Produced?) as supposedly used in #3:
Ranger 6 Air-Cooled as used in #4:
Ranger V12 Air-Cooled as used in #5 and #7:
Franklin 6 Air-Cooled as used in #9:
Packard built Rolls Royce V12 Merlin Water-Cooled as used in initial #11:
(Merlin term follows company convention of naming various piston aviation engines after birds of prey)
Rolls Royce V12 Merlin (Merlin is bird of prey to specify particular piston aviation engine):
General Electric J79 Gas Turbine as in vehicle that won land speed record (3 times in 1964 and 1965 with averages of 434, 536 and 576 mph) and used in #13 (Cyclops):
General Electric T58 Gas Turbine as used in #19:
General Electric J85 Gas Turbine as used in #27 and #33 and #34?:
Westinghouse J46 Gas Turbine as used in #34? and Wingfoot Express 1:
For more information, visit the excellent web site:
Oldsmobile 6 Water-Cooled as used in #1:
Allison V12 Water-Cooled as used in #2, #5, #6, #11, and #14:
Wright Radial 9 Air-Cooled as used in what appears to possibly be #3 or #2 temporarily:
Jacobs Radial 5 Air-Cooled as supposedly used in #3:
TO BE GIVEN IF WAS PRODUCED Ranger 6 Air-Cooled as used in #4:
Ranger V12 Water-Cooled as used in #5 and #7:
Franklin 6 Air-Cooled as used in #9:
Rolls Royce Merlin (Packard built) V12 Water-Cooled as used in initial #11:
General Electric J79 Gas Turbine as in vehicle that won land speed record (3 times in 1964 and 1965 with averages of 434, 536 and 576 mph) and used in #13 (Cyclops):
General Electric T58 Gas Turbine as used in #19:
General Electric J85 Gas Turbine as used in #27 and #33 and 34?:
TO BE GIVEN Westinghouse J46 Gas Turbine as used in #34? and Wingfoot Express 1:
The Green Monster character, at the top of this web page, was acquired from the image on page 58 and 59 of the May 1955 issue of Rod & Custom magazine. That image, as given below left, was modified using Microsoft Paint to create the image on the right:
NOTE: The Green Monster on the right is NOT biting the Green Monster on the left; that's just an optical illusion.
However, the Green Monster on the left is indeed preparing to swallow Green Monster #4.
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